


Peculiar Hypocrites

by lolanbq



Category: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 13:23:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8846731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolanbq/pseuds/lolanbq
Summary: Jacob's grandfather had it bad by being a Peculiar and a Jew, though Jacob had never been that competitive he just had to one up his grandfather.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had to write this for class and thought someone might like to read it

In retrospect Jacob might have to admit that he was a goner at being teased about dying before being dragged through a city in the 1940s. It was an odd thing to be comforted by, even though his hands were tied together, the town was hunting him down, and he would have to wrap his head around Peculiars at least there was still humor. 

His grandfather being a Peculiar was not a joke though, and that was the hardest thing to wrap his head around, even harder than that was knowing that Jacob wouldn’t have been able to enter the time loop without being one himself. Jacob had always known he was peculiar, but wouldn’t have guessed that he was Peculiar. That was just something else entirely, he didn’t belong at the home with the other kids. As much as he enjoyed spending time with them he didn’t have any special abilities. Not outwardly anyway, and what he was wasn’t exactly an ability.

Jacob wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay with them at the home, there was an entire world outside that loop that he was apart of and didn’t know if he would be able to give that up. Hanging out with them wouldn’t hurt anyone though, besides he went to Wales in order to meet the Bird, and getting to know where his grandfather grew up and with whom his grandfather grew up with felt like a good idea. Which led him to going down to the beach with them to go swimming in the warm sun.

 

Listening to Millard say what was going to happen seconds before it started happening was the coolest thing Jacob had seen in a long while. Had it been happening back home it would have been creepy, like the monster in the woods creepy, but here with everyone laughing and teasing Millard about it, it just seemed funny like a magic trick. After spending the day at the beach Jacob was feeling the warmth of camaraderie, up until the Apple Incident. 

Emma had handed over the apple Jacob helped her get and gave him a kiss on the cheek as an extra reward.

“Here you earned this.”

“Thanks for the apple,” Jacob hesitated a for a moment, he kept his eyes downcast as he spoke, “I just want to be your friend.” 

He didn’t look up to see her face close off, but he could hear her take a step back.

“Okay,” she said, “I have to go, the Bird will be worried.” She left him behind as she trudged to the front of the group of kids headed back to the house.

“That’s rough. I thought for sure she liked you.” Millard said from next to Jacob, it didn’t even startle him.

“She does, that was the problem.” Jacob wanted to drop the topic, it was awkward and Jacob wasn’t stupid.

“That doesn’t sound like a problem, mate,” Millard said laughing, clapping Jacob on the shoulder as he started to guide them back to the house with the others, but making sure to keep their distance from Emma.

“Well, it’s a problem when I don’t like her back.” Jacob said shortly, he really did not want to continue the conversation.

“Is it the grandfather thing? Because I can see why that would be a problem.” Millard was in an obnoxiously good mood about this, “You do know you two aren’t actually related so if you do like her it’s not an actual problem.”

“It’s not the grandfather thing, okay? I know we’re not related! I mean, it’s not the fact that she loved my grandfather that’s the problem.” Jacob stops himself from saying anything else, “It’s just that I see her as more of a friend than anything.” 

In reality, it was just that it was the 1940s to everyone at the home and if his grandfather was going to be targeted for two things there was no way that Jacob would open up a third.

 

In another moment of retrospect Jacob could place it that all his real feelings started after the Apple Incident with Emma. After he had explained that he didn’t return her affections she avoided him, and he was oddly okay with that. He had never been all that great dealing with girls and their emotions, or girls in general. Where Emma disappeared Millard was there. Where all the other kids wanted to hear about the outside world in the ways they wanted to hear bedtime stories, Millard wanted to hear about what Jacob’s world was outside the loop. Jacob returned that desire to know Millard, which led to their tutoring sessions. 

There was no real way for Jacob to practice his Peculiar ability, he couldn’t really practice seeing the monsters when there weren’t any. That didn’t stop Millard from asking what the one he did see looked like. When they took a break from that Millard would tell Jacob about wights. How they were formed, where they came from, why they came to be, and anything else that would help Jacob’s understanding of what was going on. And Jacob appreciates all the time he was taking out of his research of the village to teach him what must be common sense to everyone in the loop.

“Thanks, Millard,” Jacob says one day when Millard takes one of his few breaths.

“Thanks? For what?” Millard asks, Jacob assumes he tilted his head to the side.

“For doing all of this. Teaching me all of this. I can’t really see that anyone else would have had the patience to sit here with me while I struggle through getting my head around all of this, peculiarity.” He vaguely motions to everything around him, meaning the perfect house, the kids on the lawn, the time loop itself, and everything outside the loop too. It was so much to take in and remember.

“Jacob, it’s been my pleasure. Honestly, if I hadn’t disappeared I would have become a teacher. Sharing knowledge, even as mundane as what a village in the middle of nowhere is doing, is my favorite. Besides, you never know what you’ll need to know so it’s best to know everything.” Millard closed the book in his lap, moving it to the table next to him. 

Him wanting to be a teacher was new information for Jacob, he had never heard any of the other children have ‘grown up’ desires. Even though all the children were in their fifties or older not one of them had ever once talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. That might have been because they knew they wouldn’t grow up, but everyone had that dream of doing something as an adult. Jacob felt special to know this about him, made him feel closer.

It was also during this time that something else started to develop. Millard was standing next to the desk, tracing over the cover of the book with the tip of his finger. Jacob had to blink a few times to make sure that he was seeing wasn’t a figment of his imagination, not just made up due to high stress levels and low amounts of sleep. 

“Ah, Jacob, you okay over there?” Millard asked, his finger had stopped moving. Jacob opened his eyes again, but the blurry outline around Millard had not gone away.

“I can see you.” Jacob blurted out, eyes wide as he shoved himself out of his chair. Of course he couldn’t really see Millard, not his features or anything, but he could see the outline of the space Millard took up. He could see that Millard had jerked back from where he had been standing, “Wait, I can’t see see you, but I can see an outline of you.” 

That didn’t seem to calm Millard down any, Jacob could see the tense set of his shoulders, could follow the path Millard’s arm took as he scratched the back of his neck, could see Millard’s movement as he shifted from foot to foot. 

And all over again Jacob felt special to be let in on something no one else got. 

 

As much as Emma tried to avoid Jacob, and succeeded for the most part, there was no avoiding each other once the Bird put the house on lockdown. This was both fortunate and unfortunate, the positive side of it was that he and Emma started to make peace with each other. The not as positive side of it was that it seemed as though she was treating that “peace” as them working towards liking each other in a romantic way. Which was never going to happen, and not just because of the grandfather thing no matter how often Millard teased him.

So between them working things out while still having communication problems, it led to them reversing their roles. Now it was Jacob hiding somewhere in the house with Millard while Emma asked after him. It was still a good time, hanging out with Millard and finding new hiding spots around the house. They had ended up on the roof one time and sat there for hours talking about anything and everything. 

Jacob kept mental tabs on how well he could see Millard. It was like putting on glasses, every so often it was like he was getting closer to the correct prescription lens, not quite but getting closer. One of the days Jacob had commented on how Millard seemed to be getting clearer, but after seeing his vague features furl in confused fear Jacob never mentioned it again. It must have been weird to hear that someone could even see an outline of you after so long of never being seen. The Bird seemed to have the uncanny ability to sense Millard, but that wasn’t the same.

Millard very slowly coming into focus was not the only thing Jacob started to see, but this was a more metaphorical see. It was the joy Jacob felt at hearing about Millard’s life in Amsterdam before he came to the home. It was the intrigue of listening to Millard animatedly talk about the lives of everyone in the village, admittedly a little less interesting without the people. Jacob eventually realized that it must have been something with the metaphorical proximity they were starting to share, the closer they got emotionally the more Jacob could see Millard. 

 

When it came down to forming their jail break Jacob was almost happy when Millard refused to come help them. Yes, he would have been extremely useful, but now he was almost completely visible to Jacob and he couldn’t help but worry that Millard might also become visible to others too. Not only that, but it was dangerous and Jacob would never forgive himself if anything happened to Millard. Over the time that Jacob had been coming to the home Millard had become his best friend, his teacher, someone Jacob had come to care for dearly. 

 

Hearing Millard scream was the last piece of the puzzle so to speak. Where he had been a blurry splotch of color standing on the sunken part of the shipwreck. Millard became a full flesh and bone boy curled into the water with blood pouring down his back and stomach. 

Bullets be damned, Jacob was going to get to him if it killed him. 

Even in the dark Jacob could make out Millard’s features, dark blond hair looking darker since it was wet, warm chocolate brown eyes that Jacob wanted to keep forever in his memory, and the palest skin Jacob had ever seen, most likely due to the fact that Millard couldn’t take in any of the sun’s rays. Millard was only made paler by the amount of blood he was losing due to the gunshot wound in his shoulder, but despite all of this he had never looked better to Jacob. That might have been due to bias since this was the first time that Jacob had ever actually seen Millard.

The 1940s could go fuck itself, throwing caution into the wind, or the water that surrounded them, Jacob pulled Millard close to his chest and kissed him harshly on the lips. He’ll blame desperation at a later point if anyone asked or accused, but Jacob knew that he could pinpoint when all this had started. Who knew he was a sucker for jokes about death?

“I must apologize,” he managed out, “It seems I have gone and gotten myself shot.”

Jokes about death, yeah Jacob was a sucker for them and the guys who made them. A bullet zipped past Jacob’s ear sending him running with Millard tucked unceremoniously to his chest. Jacob was going to take care of him, even if Millard asked him to leave after Jacob’s slip up.

“Jacob,” Millard wheezed trying to keep hold of Jacob’s shirt, “I feel the same.” 

Jacob almost dropped him into the water.

“What?” He set Millard down to catch their breath and figure out what was being said.

“We’re the outcasts of society,” Millard weakly chuckled, “Who would we be if we sent away everyone who didn’t fit in with ‘normal’ society? Hypocrites, that’s who.”

“I can see you.” Jacob blurted out without his permission. Millard’s brown eyes widened, Jacob loved that he could see them.

“I guess that means that I have to start wearing pants.” Millard said defeatedly. Jacob could only laugh.


End file.
